The presage of Harleigh proved as just as it was pleasant: the heart of
Ellis bounded with delight as she drove off from the house; and the hope
of transferring to Lady Aurora the obligation for succour which she was
now compelled to owe to Mrs Maple, seemed almost lifting her from earth
to heaven.
Her fondest wishes were exceeded by her reception. Mrs Howel came
forward to meet her, and to beg permission not to order the carriage for
her return, till late at night. She was then conducted to the apartment
of Lady Aurora, by Lord Melbury, who assured her that his sister would
have rejoiced in a far severer indisposition, which had procured her
such a gratification. Lady Aurora welcomed her with an air of so much
goodness, and with looks so soft, so pleased, so partial, that Ellis, in
taking her held-out hand, overpowered by so sudden a transition from
indignity to kindness, and agitated by the apprehensions that were
attached to the hopes which it inspired, burst into tears, and, in
defiance of her utmost struggles for serenity, wept even with violence.
Lady Aurora, shocked and alarmed, asked for her salts; and Lord Melbury
flew for a glass of water; but Ellis, declining both, and reviving
without either, wiped, though she could not dry her eyes and smiled,
while they still glistened, with such grateful sensibility, yet beaming
happiness, that both the brother and the sister soon saw, that, greatly
as she was affected, nothing was wanting to her restoration. 'It is not
sorrow,' she cried, when able to speak; ''tis your goodness, your
kindness, which thus touch me!'
'Can you ever have met with any thing else?' said Lord Melbury, warmly;
'if you can--by what monsters you must have been beset!'
'No, my Lord, no,' cried she: 'I am far from meaning to complain; but
you must not suppose the world made up of Lady Aurora Granvilles!'
Lady Aurora was much moved. It seemed evident to her that her new
favourite was not happy; and she had conceived such high ideas of her
perfections, that she was ready to weep herself, at the bare suggestion
that they were not recompensed by felicity.
The rest of the morning passed in gentle, but interesting conversation,
between the two young females; or in animated theatrical discussions,
strictures, and declamation, with the young peer.
At dinner they joined Mrs Howel, who was charmed to see her young guests
thus delighted, and could not refuse her consent to a petition of Lady
Aurora, that she would invite Miss Ellis to assist her again, the next
day, to nurse her cold with the same prudence.
The expressive eyes of Ellis spoke enchantment. They parted, therefore,
only for the night; but just before the carriage was driven from the
door, the coachman discovered that an accident had happened to one of
the wheels, which could not be rectified till the next morning.
After some deliberation, Mrs Howel, at Lady Aurora's earnest desire,
sent over a groom with a note to Mrs Maple, informing her of the
circumstance, and begging that she would not expect Miss Ellis till the
following evening.
The tears of Ellis, at happiness so unlooked for, were again ready to
flow, and with difficulty restrained. She wrote a few words to Elinor,
entreating her kind assistance, in searching a packet of some things
necessary for this new plan; and Elinor took care to provide her with
materials for remaining a month, rather than a day.
A chamber was now prepared for Ellis, in which nothing was omitted that
could afford either comfort or elegance; yet, from the fulness of her
mind, she could not, even for a moment, close her eyes, when she
retired.
Some drawback, however, to her happiness was experienced the next
morning, when she found Mrs Howel fearful that the cold of Lady Aurora
menaced terminating in a violent cough. Dr P---- was immediately called
in, and his principal prescription was, that Her Ladyship should avoid
hot rooms, dancing, company, and talking. Mrs Howel, easily made anxious
for Lady Aurora, not only from personal attachment, but from the
responsibility of having her in charge, besought Her Ladyship to give up
the play for that night, an assembly for the following, and to permit
that the intended ball of Thursday should be postponed, till Her
Ladyship should be perfectly recovered.
Lady Aurora, with a grace that accompanied all her actions,
unhesitatingly complied; but enquired whether it would not be possible
to persuade Miss Ellis to remain with them during this confinement? Mrs
Howel repeated the request. The delight of Ellis was too deep for
utterance. Joy of this tender sort always flung her into tears; and Lady
Aurora, who saw that her heart was as oppressed as it was gentle,
besought Mrs Howel to write their desire to Lewes.
Mrs Maple, however enraged and perplexed, had no choice how to act,
without betraying the imposition which she had herself practised, and
therefore offered no opposition.
Ellis now enjoyed a happiness, before which all her difficulties and
disappointments seemed to sink forgotten, or but to be remembered as
evils overpayed; so forcible was the effect upon her mind, of the
contrast of her immediate situation with that so recently quitted. Mrs
Howel was all politeness to her; Lord Melbury appeared to have no study,
but whether to shew her most admiration or respect; and Lady Aurora
behaved to her with a sweetness that went straight to her heart.
It was now that they first became acquainted with her uncommon musical
talents. Lady Aurora had a piano forte in her room; and Mrs Howel said,
that if Miss Ellis could play Her Ladyship an air or two, it might help
to amuse, yet keep her silent. Ellis instantly went to the instrument,
and there performed, in so fine a style, a composition of Haydn, that
Mrs Howel, who, though by no means a scientific judge of music, was
sufficiently in the habit of going to concerts, to have acquired the
skill of discriminating excellence from mediocrity, was struck with
wonder, and congratulated both her young guest and herself, in so
seasonable an acquisition of so accomplished a visitor.
Lord Melbury, who was himself a tolerable proficient upon the
violoncello, was enraptured at this discovery; and Lady Aurora, whose
whole soul was music, felt almost dissolved with tender pleasure.
Nor ended here either their surprise or their satisfaction; they soon
learnt that she played also upon the harp; Lord Melbury instantly went
forth in search of one; and it was then, as this was the instrument
which she had most particularly studied, that Ellis completed her
conquest of their admiration; for with the harp she was prevailed upon
to sing; and the sweetness of her voice, the delicacy of its tones, her
taste and expression, in which her soul seemed to harmonize with her
accents, had an effect so delightful upon her auditors, that Mrs Howel
could scarcely find phrases for the compliments which she thought
merited; Lord Melbury burst into the most rapturous applause; and Lady
Aurora was enchanted, was fascinated: she caught the sweet sounds with
almost extatic attention, hung on them with the most melting tenderness,
entreated to hear the same air again and again, and felt a gratitude for
the delight which she received, that was hardly inferior to that which
her approbation bestowed.
Eager to improve these favourable sensations, Ellis, to vary the
amusements of Lady Aurora, in this interval of retirement, proposed
reading. And here again her powers gave the utmost pleasure; whether she
took a French author, or an English one; the accomplished Boileau, or
the penetrating Pope; the tenderly-refined Racine, or the all-pervading
Shakespeare; her tones, her intelligence, her skilful modulations, gave
force and meaning to every word, and proved alike her understanding and
her feeling.
Brilliant, however, as were her talents, all the success which they
obtained was short of that produced by her manners and conversation: in
the former there was a gentleness, in the latter a spirit, that excited
an interest for her in the whole house; but, while generally engaging to
all by her general merit, to Lady Aurora she had peculiar attractions,
from the excess of sensibility with which she received even the smallest
attentions. She seemed impressed with a gratitude that struggled for
words, without the power of obtaining such as could satisfy it. Pleasure
shone lustrous in her fine eyes, every time that they met those of Lady
Aurora; but if that young lady took her hand, or spoke to her with more
than usual softness, tears, which she vainly strove to hide, rolled fast
down her cheeks, but which, though momentarily overpowering, were no
sooner dispersed, than every feature became re-animated with glowing
vivacity.
Yet, that some latent sorrow hung upon her mind, Lady Aurora soon felt
convinced; and that some solicitude or suspense oppressed her spirits,
was equally evident: she was constantly watchful for the post, and
always startled at sight of a letter. Lady Aurora was too delicate to
endeavour to develope the secret cause of this uneasiness; but the good
breeding which repressed the manifestation of curiosity, made the
interest thus excited sink so much the deeper into her mind; and, in a
short time, her every feeling, and almost every thought, were absorbed
in tender commiseration for unknown distresses, which she firmly
believed to be undeserved; and which, however nobly supported, seemed
too poignant for constant suppression.
Lady Aurora, who had just reached her sixteenth year, was now budding
into life, with equal loveliness of mind and person. She was fair, but
pale, with elegant features, a face perfectly oval, and soft expressive
blue eyes, of which the 'liquid lustre' spoke a heart that was the seat
of sensibility; yet not of that weak romantic cast, formed by early and
futile love-sick reading, either in novels or poems; but of
compassionate feeling for woes which she did not suffer; and of anxious
solicitude to lessen distress by kind offices, and affliction by tender
sympathy.
With a character thus innately virtuous, joined to a disposition the
most amiably affectionate, so attractive a young creature as the
Incognita could not fail to be in unison. Without half her powers of
pleasing, the most perfect good will of Lady Aurora would have been won,
by the mere surmize that she was not happy: but when, to an idea so
affecting to her gentle mind, were added the quick intelligence, the
graceful manners, the touching sense of kindness, and the rare
accomplishments of Ellis, so warm an interest was kindled in the
generous bosom of Lady Aurora, that the desire to serve and to give
comfort to her new favourite, became, in a short time, indispensable to
her own peace.
Mrs Howel, the lady with whom she was at present a guest, possessed none
of the endearing qualities which could catch the affections of a mind of
so delicate a texture as that of Lady Aurora. She was well bred, well
born, and not ill educated; but her heart was cold, her manners were
stiff, her opinions were austere, and her resolutions were immoveable.
Yet this character, with the general esteem in which, for unimpeachable
conduct, she was held by the world, was the inducement which led her
cousin, Lord Denmeath, the uncle and guardian of Lady Aurora, to fix
upon her as a proper person for taking his ward into public; the tender
and facile nature of that young lady, demanding, he thought, all the
guard which the firmness of Mrs Howel could afford.
Lord Melbury was two years the senior of Lady Aurora: unassuming from
his rank, and unspoiled by early independence, he was open, generous,
kind-hearted and sincere; and though, from the ardour of juvenile
freedom, and the credulity of youth, he was easily led astray, an
instinctive love of right, and the acute self-reproaches which followed
his least deviations, were conscious, and rarely erring guarantees, that
his riper years would be happy in the wisdom of goodness.
In a house such as this, loved and compassionated by Lady Aurora,
admired by Lord Melbury, and esteemed by Mrs Howel, what felicity was
enjoyed by its new guest! Her suspenses and difficulties, though never
forgotten, were rather gratefully than patiently endured; and she felt
as if she could scarcely desire their termination, if it should part her
from such heart-soothing society.
Smoothly thus glided the hours, till nearly a fortnight elapsed, Lady
Aurora, though recovered, saying that she preferred this gentle social
life, to the gayer or more splendid scenes offered to her abroad: yet
neither with gaiety nor splendour had she quarrelled; it was Ellis whom
she could not bear to quit; Ellis, whose attractions and sweetness
charmed her heart, and whose secret disturbance occupied all her
thoughts.
The admiration of Lord Melbury was wrought still higher; yet the
constant respect attending it, satisfied Mrs Howel, who would else have
been alarmed, that his chief delight was derived from seeing that his
sister, whom he adored, had a companion so peculiarly to her taste.
Severely, however, Mrs Howel watched and investigated every look, every
speech, every turn of the head of Ellis, with regard to this young
nobleman; well aware that, as he was younger than herself, though her
beauty was in its prime, his safety might depend, more rationally, upon
her own views, or her own honour, than upon his prudence or
indifference: but all that she observed tended to raise Ellis yet more
highly in her esteem. The behaviour of that young person was open,
pleasing, good-humoured and unaffected. It was evident that she wished
to be thought well of by Lord Melbury; but it appeared to be equally
evident that she honourably deserved his good opinion. Her desire to
give him pleasure was unmixt with any species of coquetry: it was as
wide from the dangerous toil of tender languor, as from the fascinating
snares of alluring playfulness. The whole of her demeanour had a
decorum, and of her conduct a correctness, as striking to the taste of
Mrs Howel, as her conversation, her accomplishments, and her sentiments
were to that of the youthful brother and sister. Mrs Howel often begged
Lady Aurora to remark, that this was the only young lady whom she had
ever invited to her house upon so short an acquaintance; nor should she,
even to oblige Her Ladyship, have made this exception to her established
rules, but that she knew Mrs Maple to be scrupulosity itself, with
respect to the female friends whose intimacy she sanctioned with her
nieces. It was well known, indeed, she observed, that Mrs Maple was
forced to be the more exact in these points on account of the
extraordinary liberties taken by the eldest Miss Joddrel, who, being now
entirely independent, frequently flung off the authority of her aunt,
and did things so strange, and saw people so singular, that she
continually distressed Mrs Maple. Miss Ellis, therefore, having been
brought back to her native land, by one so nice in these matters, must
certainly be a young lady of good family; though there seemed reason to
apprehend, that she was an orphan, and that she possessed little or no
portion, by her never naming her friends nor her situation,
notwithstanding they were subjects to which Mrs Howel often tried to
lead.